John > John's Quotes

“Good is not always God's will, but God's will is always good.”
― Watchman Nee

“A drowning man cannot be saved until he is utterly exhausted and ceases to make the slightest effort to save himself.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“I do not consecrate myself to be a missionary or a preacher. I consecrate myself to God to do His will where I am, be it in school, office, or kitchen, or wherever He may, in His wisdom, send me.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“How true it is that without the guidance of the Holy Spirit intellect not only is undependable but also extremely dangerous, because it often confuses the issue of right and wrong.”
― Watchman Nee

“How dangerous a master human emotion is!”
― Watchman Nee

“The Spirit is both a builder and a dweller. He cannot dwell where he has not built; He builds to dwell and dwells in only what he has built.”
― Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man

“God will not give me humility, or patience, or holiness, or love as separate investments of His grace. He has given only one gift to meet our need, His Son Christ Jesus.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“Do you know, my friends, that the Spirit within you is very God? Oh that our eyes were opened to see the greatness of God’s gift! Oh that we might realize the vastness of the resources secreted in our own hearts! I could shout with joy as I think, “The Spirit who dwells within me is no mere influence, but a living Person; He is very God. The infinite God is within my heart!” I am at a loss to convey to you the blessedness of this discovery, that the Holy Spirit dwelling within my heart is a Person.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“Man may think human intellect and reasoning are almighty, that the brain is able to comprehend all truths of the world; but the verdict of God's Word is, "vanity of vanities.”
― Watchman Nee

“It is a great thing when I discover I am no longer my own but His. If the ten shillings in my pocket belong to me, then I have full authority over them. But if they belong to another who has committed them to me in trust, then I cannot buy what I please with them, and I dare not lose them. Real Christian life begins with knowing this.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“We must be brought to a place where, naturally gifted though we may be, we dare not speak except in conscious and continual dependence on Him.”
― Watchman Nee, Sit, Walk, Stand

“Attempting to follow Him without denying the self is the root of all failures.”
― Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man

“Do we impress people with ourselves, or with the Lord? Do we draw people to our teaching, or to the Lord? This is genuinely vital. It determines the value of all our work and labor.”
― Watchman Nee, The Release of the Spirit

“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him. 1 Corinthians 2:14 It has pleased God to say many things which leave room for misunderstanding, and not to explain them. Often in the Bible there seem to be conflicting statements or statements that seem to violate the known facts of life, and it has pleased Him to leave them there. There are many scriptures we cannot clearly explain. Had we been writing, we would have put things far more plainly so that men should have before them all the doctrine in foolproof systematic order. But would they have had the life? The mighty eternal truths of God are half obscured in Scripture so that the natural man may not lay hold of them. God has hidden them from the wise to reveal them to babes, for they are spiritually discerned. His Word is not a study book. It is intended to meet us in the course of our day-to-day walk in the Spirit and to speak to us there. It is designed to give us knowledge that is experimental because related to life. If we are trying through systematic theology to know God, we are absolutely on the wrong road.”
― Watchman Nee, A Table in the Wilderness

“The daily life of the Christian can be summed up in one word: receive.”
― Watchman Nee, Secrets To Spiritual Power: From the Writings of Watchman Nee

“Prayer does not alter that which God has determined; it never changes anything. It merely achieves what He has already foreordained.”
― Watchman Nee

“Because it has been so united with the devil it is vital for man to receive from God a change of mind before he can receive a new heart.”
― Watchman Nee

“The will of God for us is that we know the all-inclusive Christ, experience Him, and live Him as our life. To know Christ in this way is to have the full knowledge of God's will.”
― Witness Lee, Life-Study of Colossians, Vol. 2